Diseases and Parasites Houston Mice Commonly Carry

Salmonellosis

Droppings on food and surfaces

Mice shed Salmonella in their droppings, and a mouse that runs across a countertop or through a pantry leaves it on whatever it touched. Eating contaminated food brings on diarrhea, abdominal cramps, vomiting, and fever within a day or two. It is rarely dangerous for a healthy adult, but it can put young children, older people, and anyone with a weak immune system in hospital for fluids. Of everything on this page, it is the illness a Houston household with mice is most likely to actually get.

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCMV)

Urine, droppings, saliva, nest material

The house mouse is the natural host of LCMV, and an estimated 5% of house mice in the United States carry it. People are exposed by breathing dust from dried urine and droppings or by touching contaminated material and then the face. Most infections are mild or unnoticed; some produce a flu-like illness, and a small number progress to meningitis. The real concern is pregnancy: infection in a pregnant woman can harm the developing baby, so expectant mothers should leave mouse cleanup to someone else.

Allergens and asthma

Dried urine and dander in house dust

This one does not get listed as a disease, but it affects more Houston families than any infection. Proteins in mouse urine become part of the house dust and are a recognised trigger for asthma and allergic rhinitis, above all in children. Studies of homes with mouse activity find the allergen in kitchens and bedrooms alike. If a child's asthma has worsened without a clear reason and there are mice in the house, the mice are a reasonable suspect.

Leptospirosis

Urine in water and damp ground

Better known as a rat disease, but mice carry the same bacteria and shed it in urine. In a house the exposure is contaminated surfaces and standing water in a flooded garage or crawlspace. Fever, headache, chills, and muscle pain are the usual course, with liver and kidney complications in a minority. It is a modest risk from mice compared with rats, but in a flood-prone city it belongs on the list.

Fleas

Rodent fleas live on mice and rats and bite people when their host dies or is trapped. In Texas the disease they carry is murine typhus, which causes fever, headache, body aches, and a rash and is reported along the Gulf Coast every year. A sudden flea problem a few days after you set traps is the fleas changing hosts.

Mites

The house-mouse mite can leave its host and bite people, producing itchy welts. It is also the carrier of rickettsialpox, a mild and uncommon infection with a bump at the bite site, fever, and a spotty rash. It is rare and treatable, but the bites alone are reason enough to deal with the mice.

Ticks

Mice pick up ticks outdoors and carry them inside, where the tick drops off and looks for another host. In our area that means the ordinary nuisance of tick bites on people and pets rather than a specific disease cycle. Mice in the house are one of several reasons a home can develop a tick problem without the dog going anywhere unusual.

What the parasites mean for treatment

Removing the mice is step one. The fleas and mites they leave behind look for the nearest warm body once their host is gone, so a rodent job in a house with an established population usually includes a flea and tick treatment as well. Ask about it when you book.